Despite the critical bluster afforded to their début album, Dublin quartet DELORENTOS almost didn't make a second. In a run of bad luck akin to The Charlatans, their label (Pinnacle) collapsed, they hit a creative wall, new songs dried up and finally their singer Ronan walked out. It looked as though the once-proud Delorentos were on the ropes.
Indeed they were, but they weren't done punching yet. They ploughed on, worked on new stuff with determination and finally the errant Ronan returned. Even without record company backing, it seemed it was worth getting back in the ring and calling seconds out once more.
And, their defiant sophomore effort 'You Can Make Sound' suggests it was worth railing against the dying of the light after all. It's not perfect by any means and sometimes it either tries too hard or simply sounds too derivative, but in the main 'You Can Make Sound' is loud, proud and makes a point of standing up to be counted.
Let's get the chaff out of the way first. There are a few places where 'You Can Make Sound' simply underachieves. 'Leave Me Alone' is too whiny and defensive for its' own good and when this writer hears those dreaded falsetto inflections he just thinks either Chris Martin or Gary Lightbody and wants to shoot those responsible. Bearing in mind the almost-omnipresent Editors comparisons that orbit Delorentos, calling a tune 'Editorial' (and making it sound doomy and dark before it springs into a molten chorus) is optimistic at best, while the overtly Bloc Party-ish single 'S.E.C.R.E.T' doesn't impress me any more than it did when released on single recently.
So there are inadequacies here, but let's not dwell on 'em unnecessarily because 'You Can Make Sound' has plenty going for it too. Opener 'Sanctuary' shows just how much fire remains in this collective belly with its' suitably sky-scraping guitars and Ronan's revelatory, nostril-flared vocal delivery. The urgency of the let's-get-it-together lyric (“I can't believe the state we're in!”) is infectious and convincing, as is the dense mesh of guitars driving 'Hallucinations' and the heckling, Big Rock thrills of 'Body Cold'.
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Sensibly, they also remember to keep a couple of their strongest cards in reserve for the final hand. The title track is the penultimate song and it's slow and yearning, but it comes with a determination and defiance (“you can make sound, of any amount”) which is both attractive and (that word again) convincing. Then there's the epic 'I Remember' which is quite probably the best thing this writer's heard from Delorentos as yet. With piano and acoustic guitars making their first, decisive appearances, it opens out into a quality song of facing up, where melancholy and sorrow walk hand in hand with dignity (“I feel the twilight now, the darkness is all around/ but I try to remember all the things you've said”) and the band show just how good they can be when they put their collective mind to it.
There's no shortage of bands working within this anthemic'n'windswept Rock territory, of course. Both Editors and Interpol loom large over this record and if you're of this writer's vintage you'll also be questioning whether a previous breed of similar contenders such as The Chameleons and The Sound didn't already perfect this sort of thing, despite diminishing commercial returns of their own. But that's not to denigrate Delorentos' efforts here. At its' best, 'You Can Make Sound' makes big, memorable noises and it should help keep them in contention. They deserve at least another crack at the title.
Delorentos on MySpace
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